As Bears near playoffs, it's time to play to the defense's strength and make Mitch Trubisky a game manager

With the Bears closing in on their first NFC North title in eight years, it’s worth wondering if the time has come for coach Matt Nagy to push the pause button on Mitch Trubisky’s development and essentially make him a game manager for the remainder of the season.

The Bears would clinch the division and a playoff berth with a victory over the Packers on Sunday at Soldier Field, and with the defense surging after a 15-6 upset of the Rams last week, Nagy could play to his team’s strength with the idea that defenses win championships. Look no further than last year’s Eagles for proof of that.

It’s possible Nagy already started the process against the Rams. After Trubisky’s third interception, which set up the Rams at the Bears 27-yard line with 3:58 remaining in the third quarter, the defense responded with an immediate takeaway to preserve the nine-point lead. From there, Nagy went conservative. The Bears ran 12 offensive plays before two kneel-downs at the end: nine designed runs, two handoffs on run-pass options and one called pass that turned into a Trubisky scramble on third-and-6.

The defense was throttling quarterback Jared Goff and the Rams offense, field position was paramount and Trubisky’s throws were off the mark. He explained this week how he was out of sorts in his 23rd career start after missing two weeks with a right shoulder injury. He didn’t blame rust or any lingering shoulder issues.

“I was just excited to be back out there with my guys,” he said. “I was focused on the wrong things — trying to make big plays and trying to do too much. I should have had a more focused mind-set of, OK, I just need to do my job. I need to find completions. I need to catch the snap, do my footwork and get the ball to my playmakers rather than being too amped up about being out there with my guys and trying to make all-world plays.”

The Bears don’t need “all-world plays” from Trubisky to win. When he plays with better composure and takes advantage of his athleticism, he does just fine. While the label “game manager” can have a negative connotation, implying he isn’t a playmaker, Trubisky has shown at times he can be a dynamic performer.

But with an elite defense that is third in points allowed, second versus the run and third on third down, the Bears can’t be blind to their strength. That doesn’t mean the long-term vision of Trubisky as a top-tier quarterback has expired. It’s about maximizing the potential of this season after proving they can soundly defeat the team with the NFC’s best record.

The Bears lead the NFL with 34 takeaways and are 10 away from their best seasons under Lovie Smith (44 in 2006 and 2012). But they also have 21 turnovers, tied for seventh-most. Trubisky has two touchdown passes and five interceptions in his last two games, and winning a playoff game, particularly on the road, would be difficult with another three-pick outing.

Nagy has to find the balance between not affecting Trubisky’s confidence on the march toward the postseason and featuring a running game that produced a season-high 194 yards against the Rams. That can be a fine line, and if the Bears clinch a playoff spot Sunday, they could turn it loose the next week in San Francisco. But if you’re going to lean more on a running game that has been sporadic, maybe it’s best to find a groove.

While prioritizing field position, it’s a great time to ask Trubisky to stay within himself with an eye toward eliminating dangerous throws. As optimistic as the Bears are about Trubisky’s progress and career arc, and as involved as everyone is in his development, you also have to understand what you have. Did Nagy stumble across the recipe for playoff success against the Rams, a team the Bears could meet again in the postseason?

The Bears threw a ton at Trubisky as they installed the offense this season, determining what worked and what didn’t the only way you can: through trial and error. Now they need to home in on what works best.

“We don’t want to put him in a position where we’re running some plays in the pass game or run game where there’s a little gray,” Nagy said. “And right now with where he’s at, if there’s gray then I feel like that’s on the coaches. We want it to be black and white, nice and clean, so he can play fast.

“That’s one of the neat parts of us molding into our identity in this offense is learning. So that’s going to take some time and we’re getting there, but there are so many different variables that go into the offensive play. You take that now and you take it into our defense in a game like that. I need to do my job of making sure of, regardless of who the quarterback is, knowing the situation that we don’t put our defense, as good as they were playing, in a bad position.”

There’s an in-game balance as Nagy attempts to find a rhythm, and it will be interesting to see his game plan for the Packers given last week’s results.

“Every play matters,” offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said. “Every play is important and you don’t know if that third down in the second quarter is going to decide the game. You don’t stop the game and say: ‘Hey, guys, this is it right here. It’s going to be a turnover and you have to do the right thing.’

“Certainly you’re going to play through your QB — what he has confidence in, his mind-set, all those things. Then you have to play with the pieces around him.”